Slugs and snails - (not including puppy dog tails)

[firesprite]

Bit of a rant this - sorry folks but am feeling a bit disheartened here. I am sure that this will have been discussed elsewhere or before (many times) but WHY don't snails and slugs eat the massive quantity of weeds that grow in gardens, allotments etc - WHY o why do they always go for the smaller (okay I will concede this to them - the tastier) crops that we all spend ages nurturing? The only thing green in my deep beds that seems to avoid their attentions is my rhubard chard. I am almost tempted to leave the weeds surrounding my tastier crops in the hope they will think there is nothing there worth foraging for.

[greenishfing]

I don't know why but I wish some boffin would invent something to spray on weeds to get the slugs and snails to eat the weeds and make them overeat until they explode. Too much to ask I suppose.

[firesprite]

I feel like a murderer but there is something quite satisfying finding a snail who is eating my precious veg and throwing it over the hedge onto a fast road - and yes I have probably landed one or two on passing cars

[cardiffsteve]

I was given a cucumber plant and 2 tomatoes by my new boss 2 weeks ago.
The cucumber plant has been eaten and one tomato plant has died.
If I see slugs or snails i throw them over the fence into the allotments behind me.

[Mr Dave]

My neighbor feeds the birds on the top of the park in front of our house, plenty of big birds about so that's where I throw all the slugs & snails that I find in the garden. Bon Appetit Mr Magpie!

[taff]

I had some Jacobs cattle beans in a swap. I sowed them all [15], they all [ALL!!] came up. I waited till they were big and stong and had at least two pairs of big leaves each. I planted them out last monday. Today I look at them. I now have 14 twigs, and one twig with one leaf on.
When I see slugs, they used to get thrown over the fence. Now I know they know where they came from, so from now on,hello Mr. Lump Hammer...

[rustylady]

Get a bucket of salty water and drop the little darlings into it. Apparently if you just throw them over the fence they can find their way home. There is no way out of a bucket of salt water

[firesprite]

Get a bucket of salty water and drop the little darlings into it. Apparently if you just throw them over the fence they can find their way home. There is no way out of a bucket of salt water

what do you do with them once they are shrivelled - tip them on the compost of put them in the green wheelie bin? Not sure I can cope with watching them die - at least when they land on the road they get squished - so no chance of plotting a revenge course back to the garden

[veggiechicken]

For all the snail throwers amongst you, make sure you can throw them more than 10 metres
BBC News - Snails 'have a homing instinct'

[GardenFaery]

I'm a vegetarian but I still stamp on them LOL never mind the throwing - squish em underfoot then you know they're properly 'deaded' and the birds get a de-shelled treat!

[firesprite]

For all the snail throwers amongst you, make sure you can throw them more than 10 metres
BBC News - Snails 'have a homing instinct'

Ah then I can live in hope that if the snail lands on a passing car it will stick with its sticky foot and be transported MILES away - it won't then have a hope in hells chance of finding its way back!

Result!

[Potstubsdustbins]

Don't throw them over the fence, throw them at it HARD! The thrush's will love you.

Colin

[GardenFaery]

I still stand by the stomp! LOL

[ItsEssexRob]

Am I the only person who uses a machine gun to annihilate them if throwing them over the fence doesn't work?

[hamamelis]

I'm not quite sure if this is brilliant or terrifying, but a lecturer friend tells me that the robotics lab at the uni she works in is in the process of developing a slug-eating robot. It can detect slugs, actually digests them, and uses the energy to power itself. The only current problem is that it needs to eat more slugs to power itself that it can find using that power.


Personally, I think a hedgehog's more efficient, cheaper and less unnerving, but that's just me.